Minimum Viable Product and Pivoting: Crash Course Business Entrepreneurship #6
TLDRThe video explains the concept of minimum viable product (MVP), the simplest version of a product or service that delivers value to attract customers and maximize learning. A good MVP has enough value, hints at future offerings, and provides feedback for iteration. An MVP should take a human-centered approach focused on the customer experience. Even with a solid MVP, customer feedback and a willingness to pivot are crucial - many famous companies completely changed their initial idea based on user response. To pivot successfully, entrepreneurs must listen to what customers want and let go of what isn't working rather than sticking rigidly to their original vision.
Takeaways
- 😊 The original idea for YouTube was a video dating service called 'Tune in, Hook Up'
- 📈 Successful companies are willing to pivot and change their business model when their original idea doesn't meet customer needs
- 💡 The minimum viable product (MVP) is the simplest version of a product that will attract customers and provide learning opportunities
- 🚀 The 3 key parts of an MVP: enough value for customers, hints at future offerings, and provides feedback to learn from
- 🎯 Take a human-centered design approach when creating products and services to solve customer problems
- 😕 Big mistakes can happen when biases or limitations result in products unsafe for certain groups
- 👂 Listen carefully to customer feedback to uncover unmet needs that could lead to a successful pivot
- ❤️ It's important to have a critical eye and be ready to let go of ideas that aren't serving customers
- ⏰ Get feedback early before getting overly attached to an idea that may need to pivot
- 🤸♀️ Be flexible and focus on parts of your business that customers like when pivoting
Q & A
What was the original concept for YouTube?
-YouTube originally started as a video-based dating service called "Tune in, Hook Up" with the tagline "Tune in, Hook Up".
What are the 3 key parts of a minimum viable product?
-The 3 key parts of a minimum viable product (MVP) are: 1) It has enough value that customers want to start using it, 2) It hints at what the business will produce in the future to keep customers interested, and 3) It gives feedback to learn from as the product or service is refined.
Why is a human-centered design approach important for entrepreneurs?
-A human-centered design approach is important because it focuses on understanding people's needs, pains, gains etc. to develop products and services that truly add value. This increases the chances of entrepreneurial success.
What was the original concept for Instagram?
-Instagram originally started as a mobile app called Burbn that had features for check-ins, gaming, event planning and photo-sharing. The photo-sharing feature turned out to be the most popular, leading the founders to pivot and focus solely on that.
Why is listening to customer feedback important?
-Listening to customer feedback is crucial in order to understand if a product or service is actually meeting people's needs and desires. It provides insights into what users like or dislike so that entrepreneurs can refine and improve an offering.
What does it mean to pivot in business?
-In business, a pivot means making a major change to a product, service, business model etc. based on customer feedback because the original concept failed to gain traction. It allows entrepreneurs to focus on what parts users do want rather than persisting with an idea no one cares for.
What was Gretchen's mistake with her Etsy business?
-Gretchen failed to listen to buyer feedback and requests on Etsy. She only sold one type of hat even though customers wanted more customization options. By ignoring suggestions, she lost customers.
Why can developing a minimum viable product be an iterative process?
-Developing an MVP can involve a lot of testing, feedback, refinements etc. Entrepreneurs have to be flexible rather than sticking rigidly to an initial concept. As they learn from users, pivots allow them to incrementally improve the product.
What biases and limitations can impact product design?
-Biases related to gender, body size, physical ability etc. can result in products that don't meet many users' needs. For example, crash test dummies have historically reflected average male bodies, leading to less safe cars for women.
How can entrepreneurs overcome the emotional challenge of changing their original business idea?
-It's completely understandable to feel attached to an original idea that took time and effort to develop. However, listening openly and non-defensively to user feedback is key. Focusing on customers rather than ego can help entrepreneurs emotionally accept necessary pivots.
Outlines
😊 Introducing Anna and her interests.
The first paragraph is an introduction to the narrator Anna. She describes some of her interests and hobbies including walks on the beach, reading books, acting, writing, spending time in the sun with her cats, and running 5K races.
📺 Imagining an alternate reality of YouTube focused on dating.
The second paragraph imagines an alternative history where YouTube started as a video dating service rather than a video sharing platform. It emphasizes that many successful companies pivoted from unsuccessful early ideas by listening to user needs.
🚀 Defining a minimum viable product (MVP).
The third paragraph introduces the concept of a minimum viable product (MVP) - the simplest possible version of a product that delivers value to attract customers. It highlights 3 key parts of an MVP: enough value for users, hints at future capabilities to sustain interest, and provides feedback to drive refinement.
🎩 Using an example to illustrate creating and launching an MVP.
The fourth paragraph provides an example of Gretchen creating hats to sell on Etsy as her minimum viable product. It shows how she failed to learn from customer feedback and didn't pivot her offering, leading to no sales.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡minimum viable product
💡iteration
💡human-centered design
💡pivot
💡customer feedback
💡early adopters
💡jobs, pains, gains
💡assumptions
💡analytics
💡costs
Highlights
The first iteration of our product or service should be our minimum viable product -- the simplest version that will attract customers and maximize our learning as we launch our business.
The MVP gives us feedback to learn from as we refine our product or service. Basically, the MVP is like a really useful first draft.
Our goal isn’t perfection, but more the goal is to produce a great first offering that enables learning.
Once we’ve launched a product or service, we can start gathering feedback and implementing changes, so we can deliver more value to customers faster than competitors.
To make an effective MVP and turn it into a successful business, it’s important to put customers front and center and think about People having an Experience.
When it comes to sketching out all the details of our business, we have different interests, too. Everyone’s starting point can be different!
You might assume that all successful entrepreneurs have this process down. But we all have biases and limitations, and big mistakes happen.
Instead of burning everything to the ground, you might be able to pivot. That’s the business way of saying: make a big change to a product or service based on customer feedback, because they don’t like or need it.
The key to a good pivot is listening. As you test your MVP, are you paying attention to what your customers are telling you?
Change is hard! It’s easy to think you can handle it before you’ve gone through the emotional rollercoaster of a new entrepreneurship venture.
The best thing for your idea is to have a critical eye and a hard heart: pay attention to what customers are using and let go of what isn’t serving them.
You want your minimum viable product to draw in customers, who provide lots of feedback, so you can adapt.
Figure out what parts of your idea people like and use, and focus on them.
Many of the brands we know and love (or at least use) today were born from pivots. Take Instagram, for example, which started as Burbn -- a check-in slash gaming slash planning slash photo-sharing app named after alcohol.
The key to a good pivot is listening. As you test your MVP, are you paying attention to what your customers are telling you?
Transcripts
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